Springsteen, Phish jam together at Bonnaroo

In this photo provided by StarPix, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band perform at the Bonnaroo Arts and Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn., Saturday, June 13, 2009. (AP Photo/StarPix, Amanda Schwab)
— AP

In this photo provided by StarPix, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band perform at the Bonnaroo Arts and Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn., Saturday, June 13, 2009. (AP Photo/StarPix, Amanda Schwab)
/ AP

MANCHESTER, Tenn. 
They were chanting "Bruuuuuce" at Bonnaroo all weekend, as Bruce Springsteen performed a three-hour set with the E Street Band one night and joined Phish on stage another.

Springsteen and Phish were the headliners at the eighth annual festival, held on a giant farm in the Tennessee hills. Phish first played Friday night, then Springsteen played Saturday. The two worlds – far apart in rock 'n' roll – combined during Phish's closing set Sunday night.

Phish frontman and guitarist Trey Anastasio introduced Springsteen as "my boyhood hero and still hero." Anastasio recalled seeing Springsteen perform when he was young as a foundational experience, forever giving him unrealistically high expectations for concerts.

With Springsteen as lead vocalist and joining Anastasio on guitar, they played Mack Rice's "Mustang Sally" and Springsteen's "Bobby Jean" and "Glory Days." Anastasio beamed throughout while the Boss immediately played bandleader, even calling for a "little more keyboard" for Page McConnell.

It was a symbolic moment for a Bonnaroo notable for its musical cross-pollination and expanded view of what it means to be a "jam band."

Though Bonnaroo was founded as a roots-rock, jam band festival, it years ago adopted a wider musical spectrum that draws from all genres, including hip-hop, heavy metal and pop. Bonnaroo's origins were easy to recall with Phish – today's pre-eminent jam band, reunited after a five-year hiatus – performing for the first time together at Bonnaroo, a festival founded in the image of the Vermont band's destination concerts.

But as Bonnaroo has grown to become arguably the country's biggest music festival, its essence still remains centered on live performance and virtuosity – which came in all sounds over the weekend.

Springsteen might rarely deviate much from his decades-long catalog, but he (again) proved there's no better showman in rock. Across three hours, he repeatedly ran into the crowd, leaning out across the barricades, taking requests – even the out-of-season "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" – and dancing with a young, awe-struck girl.

The Boss also struck a tone mindful of the current economic climate. Along with his songs about down-on-their-luck characters and blue collar life, Springsteen encored with Stephen Foster's Civil War-era "Hard Times Come Again No More."

"You pick up the newspaper and you look out and you seen millions of jobs here in the country lost. Hundreds of thousands of jobs every month," said Springsteen. "You see things that I never thought I'd see. There's many, many folks struggling out there."

He wasn't the only one to touch on the recession. Jenny Lewis, the singer-songwriter who sometimes fronts the California band Rilo Kiley, introduced a new song about today's times, noting she comes from "a state that's totally bankrupt." On the song, "Big Way," she sang, "They're gonna get you in a big way."

But Springsteen was far from the only showman at Bonnaroo. Few weren't impressed by The Rev. Al Green's performance Friday afternoon. The 63-year-old Memphis resident sang his soul classics – "Let's Stay Together," "Here I Am" – with a gospel flair, hitting high notes that he said proved he still had it.